American Concrete Institute names 2011-2012 officers

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) introduced its 2011-2012 president, vice president, and four board members during the ACI Spring 2011 Convention in Tampa, Fla.

Kenneth C. Hover was elected to serve as president of the Institute for 2011-2012. After the sudden loss of ACI President Richard D. Stehly in Sept. 2010, Hover was elevated from the position of senior ACI vice president to fill the remainder of Stehly’s term. Hover’s own one-year term as elected ACI president officially began at the conclusion of the Spring 2011 Convention and will end at the Spring 2012 Convention in Dallas, Texas.

Anne M. Ellis has been elected ACI vice president for a two-year term, and James K. Wight is now the Institute’s senior vice president, which is also a two-year term. Additionally, four members have been elected to serve on the ACI Board of Direction, each for three-year terms.

Kenneth C. Hover is professor of civil and environmental engineering and Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. An ACI member since 1980, Hover was elected vice president of the Institute in the spring of 2009. He currently chairs ACI Committee 301-C, Concrete Mixtures, Handling, Placing, Consolidating, and Curing, and also chairs ACI’s Task Group on Fly Ash Communication. He currently serves on several other technical committees, including 318-A, Structural Concrete Building Code. Hover previously served on the ACI Board of Direction and was named a Fellow of ACI in 1992. In addition, he is a past president of the ACI Greater Miami Valley Chapter.

Hover started his career as a project engineer and project manager for Dugan and Meyers Construction Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was involved in construction of buildings, interstate bridges, and water treatment plants. After serving as a Captain in the Army Corps of Engineers (15th Combat Engineer Battalion), he then joined the structural consulting firm of THP, Ltd., in Cincinnati, advancing to partner and manager with experience in project design, specifications writing, design team management, and contract administration. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a PhD in structural engineering from Cornell University.

Hover came to Cornell with the assistance of a grant from the Exxon Foundation, designed to bring experienced engineers to the faculties of U.S. colleges of engineering, and he was among the first winners of an ACI scholarship. He joined the faculty in 1984, where he teaches reinforced and prestressed concrete design, concrete materials, and construction management. His research focuses on the impact of construction operations and the construction environment on concrete quality.

A licensed Professional Engineer in Ohio and New York, Hover lectures nationally and internationally on concrete materials and construction. ACI has honored him with the Joe W. Kelly Award, Robert E. Philleo Award, and Structural Research Award. He is also a winner of the ASCE Materials Division’s Best Basic Research Paper Award. The Weiss Presidential Fellowship is Cornell University’s highest teaching award and he has received many other teaching awards in his department and college. In January 2006 at World of Concrete, he was named one of the “Ten Most Influential People in the Concrete Industry.”

James K. Wight is the F.E. Richart Jr. Collegiate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. He has been a professor in the structural engineering area of the civil and environmental engineering department since September 1973, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate classes on structural analysis and design of reinforced concrete structures.

An active member of ACI since 1973, Wight was named a Fellow of the Institute in 1984 and previously served on the ACI Board of Direction. He is a past chair of the ACI Technical Activities Committee; ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code; and ACI-ASCE Joint Committee 352, Joints and Connections in Monolithic Concrete Structures. He is a past president of the ACI Greater Michigan Chapter.

Wight is known for his work in earthquake-resistant design of concrete structures. His more recent research has concentrated on the strength and inelastic behavior of connections in composite structures (reinforced concrete and steel) and the use of high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete composites for earthquake-resistant design of critical members in concrete structures. He has been involved with post-earthquake damage studies following earthquakes in Mexico, Chile, Armenia, Egypt, California, Japan, and India.

ACI has honored Wight with the Delmar L. Bloem Distinguished Service Award, the Joe W. Kelly Award, the Arthur J. Boase Award, the Alfred E. Lindau Award, and the Chester Paul Siess Award for Excellence in Structural Research. He has also received the Arthur Y. Moy Award from the ACI Greater Michigan Chapter for outstanding service in the field of concrete technology.

At the University of Michigan, Wight has received awards for his teaching and service, including the ASCE Student Chapter Teacher of the Year Award (several times), the College of Engineering’s Distinguished Service and Teaching Excellence Awards, the Rackham Graduate School Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, and the State of Michigan Award for Outstanding Teaching. He has also received distinguished alumni awards from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments of the University of Illinois and Michigan State University.

Wight received his BS and MS degrees in civil engineering from Michigan State University in 1969 and 1970, and his PhD from the University of Illinois in 1973.

Anne M. Ellis has been elected ACI vice president. She is vice president of government initiatives at AECOM in Arlington, Va. She has 30 years of experience with the A/E/C industry supporting public- and private-sector clients, concrete industry collaboration and advancements, and the expansion of a global, publicly traded professional services firm.

Prior to joining AECOM, Ellis represented the concrete and cement industries as regional structural engineer for the Portland Cement Association and as applied engineering manager for the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

Ellis is a past member of the ACI Board of Direction and a past chair of the ACI Marketing Committee and the Board Task Group on Student E-Membership. She has served on many technical committees, including ACI Committees 330, Concrete Parking Lots and Site Paving; 551, Tilt-up Concrete Construction; and C650, Tilt-up Constructor Certification. She is a current member of the Financial Advisory Committee and ACI Committee 375, Performance-Based Design of Buildings for Wind Loads. She was named an ACI Fellow in 2008.

Working with ACI colleagues, Ellis helped institute free ACI student e-membership, facilitate ACI’s entry into social networking (Facebook), and establish the Collegiate Concrete Council as well as the Student and Young Professional Activities Committee. In support of sustainability, she served on the Board Advisory Committee for Sustainable Development and led the Task Group for the Strategic Development Council Concrete Sustainability Vision and Roadmap.
Since 2002, Ellis has served on the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee by appointment of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. In 2007, she was inducted into the Virginia Tech Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni.

In support of engineering education throughout her career, Ellis has taught a variety of classes, including concrete design, to undergraduate students and continuing education classes to practicing engineers. She has completed terms on the Virginia Tech College of Engineering Advisory Board and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Board, including a term as chair.

Other industry leadership activities include terms on the Board of the Tilt-Up Concrete Association, the Board of Governors of the Washington Building Congress, and the Board of Women in Water. Ellis is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She currently serves as a company representative to the Council on Federal Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services and the Professional Services Council.

The author of numerous articles, Ellis is a frequent speaker at universities, professional societies, and industry forums. She received her BS in civil engineering from Virginia Tech and has been a professional engineer in Virginia since 1984. She is trained as a Six Sigma Green Belt.

Elected as a new member of ACI’s Board of Direction is Neal S. Anderson, vice president of engineering at the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute in Schaumburg, Ill. He joined CRSI in early 2008 and is responsible for the technical engineering operations of the Institute.

Anderson was extensively involved with the investigation and rehabilitation of reinforced and precast/prestressed concrete and steel structures, which included experience on a variety of structural and materials evaluations; bridge superstructure and deck repair projects; and assignments, including structural building frames, building facades, plazas, stadia, slabs-on-ground, historic steel construction, and parking decks. He also served as one of the principal investigators for two Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) extensive research programs on the behavior and design criteria of headed stud anchorages.

Anderson serves on ACI Committees 318, Structural Concrete Building Code; 355, Anchorage to Concrete; C601-A, Adhesive Anchor Installer; Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 445, Shear and Torsion; and ACI Subcommittees 318-B, Reinforcement and Development, 318-C, Safety, Serviceability, and Analysis, and 318 Task Group-R, Reinforcement. He is also a Vice Chair of the Concrete Research Council. A Fellow of PCI, Anderson is active on the PCI Industry Handbook Committee and Research and Development Committee, as well as many CRSI committees.

He has authored more than 20 technical papers and has given numerous presentations at technical conferences, symposia, and educational seminars. He is also a frequent speaker for the ACI Anchorage to Concrete educational seminar program. Anderson is a licensed professional and structural engineer in Illinois and several other states.

He received his BS and MS degrees in structural engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., and previously worked for Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., for over 21 years.

Khaled Awad has also begun his post as a member of ACI’s Board of Direction. He is the chairman and founder of ACTS, a leading material and geotechnical consulting firm in the Middle East, based in Beirut, Lebanon. An active member of ACI, he is the chair of the International Certification Subcommittee and currently serves on the Financial Advisory Committee; the International Committee; and ACI Committees 130, Sustainability of Concrete; and C630, Construction Inspector Certification. Awad received the ACI Henry L. Kennedy Award and the ACI Chapter Activities Award in 2007 and the ACI Certification Award in 2011.

Awad recently founded Grenea, an investment firm advancing and providing technical assistance to eco-developments around the world. Prior to establishing Grenea, he was the Founding Director of Property Development at the Masdar Initiative in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Masdar is a multi-faceted initiative advancing the development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions. He oversaw the development of emission-free Masdar City, the world’s first development aiming to become carbon-neutral.

Awad worked in the real estate and construction industry in the Arabian Gulf for more than 25 years. He was the founder and CEO of various construction and real estate companies, dealing with the supply chain and information technology side of the industry, as well as the development of large-scale projects.

He received his BE in civil engineering from the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, and his MA in business administration from the Lebanese University in Beirut, Lebanon. Awad is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and ASTM International and a Fellow of the UK Institute of Concrete Technology.

Also joining the ACI Board of Direction for the first time is James R. Harris. He is principal of J.R. Harris & Company, Structural Engineers, Denver, Colo. He is a member of ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code, and ACI Subcommittees 318-G, Precast and Prestressed Concrete, and 318-H, Seismic Provisions.

Harris also serves on various technical committees of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Institute of Steel Construction, the Applied Technology Council, the Building Seismic Safety Council, the International Standards Organization, the Mid-America Earthquake Engineering Research Center, the Portland Cement Association, and the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE. His contributions to the advancement of standards for structural engineering practice were recognized by his election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005. In 2010, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Ill.

He has been involved in the design or evaluation of several hundred structures ranging from residences to high-rise buildings, including industrial facilities, long spans, buildings in high seismic zones, excavation bracing, pile and pier foundations, vibration issues, and historic building renovations. His research focuses on the loading and response of structures, particularly earthquake and snow loadings, and on improving the formulation and use of engineering standards. He has authored more than 30 reports and journal articles on the results of his research and practice.

Harris received his MS and PhD in structural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Ill.

Cecil L. Jones also joins the ACI Board of Direction this year. He is the president of Diversified Engineering Services, Inc., located in Raleigh, N.C., and has more than 38 years of experience in construction and materials related to the transportation area. Prior to establishing Diversified Engineering Services, he worked with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for more than 30 years with assignments ranging from field construction engineering to the position of state materials eEngineer.

Jones has been active within ACI and is currently chair of ACI Committee C601, New Certification Programs. He is a past member and chair of the Educational Activities Committee and past chair of ACI Committees 308, Curing Concrete, and E905, Training Programs. He is a member of the Responsibility in Concrete Construction Committee, the Construction Award Committee, and ACI Committees 308, Curing Concrete; C610, Field Technician Certification; C630, Construction Inspector Certification; C631, Concrete Transportation Construction Inspector Certification; and E905, Training Programs. He is a past member of the Certification Programs Committee, the Committee on Nominations, the Strategic Planning Task Group, and the Student and Young Professional Activities Committee.

Jones is also a member of the Transportation Research Board, where he is a committee chair and has served on numerous National Cooperative Highway Research Program research panels, monitoring research efforts on a variety of materials-related work in the transportation area. He has been involved in the activities of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), including the Executive Committee of the Subcommittee on Materials, where he was a regional vice chair and led the Recycling Task Force. He is active in ASTM International, is a former Advisory Board Member of the Recycled Materials Resource Center, and has been involved with other committees and task force efforts within AASHTO, ASCE, and the Federal Highway Administration.

Jones received his BS in civil engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. He is a licensed professional engineer in North Carolina.